Phase I IUCRC at The Ohio State University: Center for Disruptive Musculoskeletal Innovations

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The purpose of this Site is to create a more comprehensive, quantitative understanding of causal pathways for the development of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the occupational environment, which are known to be complex and multi-factorial. Knowledge gained from research performed at this Site will lead to the identification of interventions that will more effectively mediate injury risk and injury severity. This Site is needed because, not only are MSDs a major cause of lost work time and the leading cause of disability worldwide, but current treatments for many types of MSDs often are difficult or unsuccessful. This Site will be an addition to the Center for Disruptive Musculoskeletal Innovations (CDMI), which was created to develop interventions that could develop more cost-effective treatments. However, it has been well established that MSD prevention is far more cost effective than treatment. Thus, the intervention concepts to be generated by this Site will have applications to occupational workplace designs, healthcare delivery, sports medicine, the military, and the service industry. In addition, a better understanding of causal pathways to MSDs will improve the bases for innovative treatments and serve as a useful complement to the research currently being conducted by the CDMI.This Site proposes to address the impact of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and the large burden they impose on injured employees, companies, and the U.S. healthcare industry. It will be unique within the existing IUCRC framework, since it focuses primarily on MSD prevention efforts as opposed to post-injury treatments. MSDs continue to burden our society because their causes are multi-factorial, complex, and often poorly understood. Thus, this Site has three technical focuses, each of which is aimed to improve our understanding of how work-related MSDs develop, so that the application of this knowledge can help to prevent or reduce MSD rates. First, our Site will apply engineering techniques to quantify and characterize MSD causal pathways and use this knowledge to intervene in the pathway, thereby preventing or decreasing MSD risks through workplace and equipment designs to which employees and product consumers are exposed. Second, we will conduct needed research to improve existing tools, or create new tools, which improve the sensitivity and specificity of MSD risk assessments. Third, we will use this approach to better understand when and how to return injured employees to the workplace so as to minimize their risk of an MSD recurrence.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.